Originally Posted by: Jean Giraud I don't vote for math region in text.
Mathsoft demonstrated, I have used it few times for poof.
125000 Mathsoft Collaboratory, never used except myself.
Some math stuff may not be compatible in text region.
Jean, I'm just following my plan of SMath project growth.
One of the most exciting parts is to provide better experience of creating documents with real calculations inside. Not like in Mathcad where all parts of the document positioned absolutely and have no any logical relationship between elements. And not like in MS Word where everything is very convenient but all the formulas are just for visual representation.
I'm talking about taking the best from these two approaches: convenient document layout where everything positioned relatively and automatic calculation of equations and plots written inside.
This way of evolution is pretty obvious if you look into plug-in like Writer Region which is small but a pretty powerful text processor. If we could allow Writer Region to insert standard equations and calculate them with all the possibilities available in SMath Studio today the main idea could be a reality.
So the first step from my side was to introduce visual representation of the worksheet like a document in text processor with headers/footers page numbers etc. It was done successfully.
The second step is to provide simple and convenient API to insert any supported Region inside another Region, so existing plug-ins could use this API. This work is in progress now.
Third step is to release new program called SMath Writer (?) which will have no any Regions - just a document with pages and cursor. You can write text and add equations like you do it in MS Word with one exception - all math is automatically calculated there.
Something good about this idea is that:
- every single bit of code (core and plug-ins) will be reused in both SMath Studio and SMath Writer (?), so both programs will continue living happy together;
- if SMath Writer (?) will have a success it will help a project itself;
- we will introduce new way of working with documents which contains calculations inside;
- the whole work is pretty doable and logical;
- damn, why not?!?!
So we are in the middle of our way, and what you see now is just a first attempt to use new features in real life. Yes, there are plenty of bugs (as always) and something is not very convenient to use, but it is a progress and now we can do something which was absolutely impossible to do 1-2 years ago. Let's see...
Best regards, Andrey Ivashov.